One Winnetka gets signal for preliminary council approval

Lucien Lagrange Studio / HANDOUT

Winnetka's Village Council gave initial preliminary approval to the downtown One Winnetka project on Jan. 3. This rendering of the revised project shows an aerial view of the development looking south.

Winnetka's Village Council gave initial preliminary approval to the downtown One Winnetka project on Jan. 3. This rendering of the revised project shows an aerial view of the development looking south. (Lucien Lagrange Studio / HANDOUT)

After walking through some of the conditions attached to the One Winnetka project – conditions they said would protect both the village and its eventual neighbors – Winnetka Village Council members on Tuesday signaled that they would give official preliminary approval to the downtown residential-retail project that has been under consideration since April 2015.

"I've been on record as supporting the project," Trustee Kristin Ziv said before the vote. "I'm happy the ordinance is moving ahead."

"Construction is going to be tough for the 18 to 20 months it's going on, but we're making sure that it's survivable" for neighbors like the condominium building at 711 Oak Street, and the nearby Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Trustee Scott Myers told the small audience.

The proposal still has a long way to go before shovels break ground, Michael D'Onofrio, the village's community development director, said.

The preliminary approval won't become official until Jan. 17, when the council is scheduled to vote both on the project and the development agreement that accompanies it, between Winnetka and the developers, David Trandel and Stonestreet Partners LLC.

Stonestreet must then submit a full set of engineering plans to the village before it can apply for final approval. The plan, which D'Onofrio said must be in substantial agreement with earlier plans approved by the council, will then go back to the village's Plan Commission, Design Review Board and Zoning Board of Appeals to get a second and final nod from those advisory boards, he said.

Winnetka's downtown development, the village's continuing fight against flooding, and school overcrowding were top stories in Winnetka in 2016.

Village officials entered the year knowing they had rejected one flood control strategy, the $81.3 million eastward-focused Willow Road tunnel project,...

D'Onofrio said the reviews by those bodies, all of which have held previous One Winnetka hearings, will be "perfunctory," making certain that what is in Stonestreet's final application is in compliance with what was reviewed preliminarily.

One Winnetka will also have to be reviewed by the village's Landmarks Preservation Council before getting demolition permits, he said.

The plan differs little from the one the council reviewed last September before giving staff the go-ahead to create a preliminary approval ordinance and a development agreement, according to D'Onofrio. Trandel and Stonestreet have asked for approval for between 55 and 62 residential units, rather than 61 units, D'Onofrio said, a move that doesn't change One Winnetka's size.

Highlights of the project, which will rise on Elm Street and Lincoln Avenue near the downtown Metra station, include:

•A 1.38 acre site with three buildings, two fronting on Elm and a third on Lincoln. The middle building, on Elm, will be four stories tall, while the Elm and Lincoln buildings flanking it will be five stories.

•In addition to the condominium and apartment units, One Winnetka will have almost 34,000 square feet of retail space.

•It will also feature 106 residential parking spaces below the buildings, 56 commuter parking spaces below the Lincoln Avenue buildings, 114 spaces for shoppers in an Elm Street parking lot and 54 on-street spaces for shoppers along Lincoln. The village will own one of the two garages that comprise those spaces.

•The village will also get an estimated $375,000 in fees from the developers, although there will be electrical and fire alarm system fees beyond that cap, according to a report from Village Attorney Peter Friedman.

•A timeline that requires Trandel and Stonestreet to execute the development agreement within 30 days after the ordinance is adopted. Within 180 days after the ordinance's effective date, the developers must submit plans for final approval, and once given final approval by council, the company has 90 days to take out permits, and 60 days after that to start construction, which must be substantially finished 24 months thereafter.

Trustees focused on aspects of the development agreement that require the developers to hold regular monthly meetings with representatives of the neighboring Hadley Institute and 711 Oak Street condominium building, to help deal with any construction-related issues.

Trandel assured neighbors that the developers could hold open houses for residents and other neighbors, "and I'll volunteer my (phone) number" to facilitate more open communication.

Frank Petrek, one of two 711 Oak Street residents who spoke at the meeting, thanked Friedman for work on the development agreement, but also wanted to be sure that the village would have inspectors on hand to make sure, among other things, that construction hours will be adhered to.